27 replies to this topic

[DAVEY_C]

just wundering if anyone has gotten a rough saloon shell and converted it to a pickup,van,estate,hornet or anything based on the general shape?? i know people have built kitcars from one but has anyone bought the panels required and achieved an althernative conversion? is it even possible?

[minidream94]

u could make a saloon based pickup and quite a few have been done, but obviously the estate/van/pickup are longer wheelbases than the saloon so cant be converted. I suppose u could do a saloon van aswell, like the fiesta vans u can get but u would have to have a rear opening door, although u could probably incorparate the rear doors from the van/estate into the saloon shell if u know what you are doing

[DAVEY_C]

ì was thinking more on the lines of buying the relevant full side, roof and floor panels to achieve the particular looks and wheelbase. i'm not nessicarily asking from a road legal point of view but even if its spaceframed racer or anything converted from a saloon to another.

i think it would be quite an interesting build once the original shell was jigged up and all panels would line up as it should to achieve a factory look...

[minidream94]

its possible yeah, although u would have to source a roof for the estate/van as you cant buy them new and i dont think u can buy the rear C pillars new either so you would either have to cut from a scrap shell or something like that but yeah its possible

I personally dont see the point in doing it as you may aswell buy an estate/van/pickup to restore in the first place

[Mini_Magic]

Anything is possible, if you have the time and money.

[DAVEY_C]

its possible yeah, although u would have to source a roof for the estate/van as you cant buy them new and i dont think u can buy the rear C pillars new either so you would either have to cut from a scrap shell or something like that but yeah its possible

I personally dont see the point in doing it as you may aswell buy an estate/van/pickup to restore in the first place

over here their not commonly sold... i'm not a fan of most of the kitcar conversions to date so just thought of it as a conversion of interest and possibly a personal achievement... maybe its a mad thought
i'm sure a roof skin could be moulded in grp from an origional...

[DAVEY_C]

Anything is possible, if you have the time and money.

plenty of 1 and none of the other just the wrong way around.... loads of time and loads of thoughts

[CLM]

I am pretty sure the pup would be easiest to build up from a saloon you can buy most every panel original or pattern to do it except a roof, cheap it would not be, though it would likely be cheaper then buying a pup in good shape. If you really think about it, most pup restorations I have seen online include the rear end the floor the load floor.. so while a conversion would be expensive it's only a few panels more what you would spend restoring a real pup. Only caveat I really have found is a mark 1 and a mark 2 saloon has one piece sides and the long wheel base cars have built up sides so there would be a bit of modification required at the b pillar. Granted if you are starting from a mark 3+ you will also have to do those mods due to the roll up doors.

As for van/estate if you can locate a roof and complete sil to roof quarter panels nos you might be able to get away with it, however you can buy van load floors, you can't buy estate load floors that I know of so a van would likely be easier then an estate by alot.

Nice thing is if you have a solid floor in the saloon you can just buy the floor extension piece that the factory used to extend it to the longer style.

Pup is definitely the easiest conversion currently, I am trying to do one myself, but basing it off a rotten estate shell I acquired.

Chris

[R.S.P]

Hornet or elf should be one of the easier ones to do if you can get hold of the rear wings. as you can get hold of the boot floor extension piece, boot, bonnet and front panel.

the rest is the same

Edited by R.S.P, 10 November 2011 - 09:56 PM.

[Cooperman]

I bought a Pick-up for full restoration a while back. When it was in pieces I did think about building a 6-wheeled Pick-up by strengthening and welding together 2 new rear sub-frames, cutting the side panels and load bed shorter, then adding new side panels and load bed with stiffening to give the necessary strength and grafting the original tailgate and tailgate supporting structure on the end. A Pick-up would be quite easy to do even without a jig.
I didn't do it as the Pick-up I had was so original and low mileage. Was great once finished and I eventually sold it to a good friend.

[mk1leg]

Well I'v started collecting old pick up bits for a planed project ..............more to come keep an eye out in complete rebuilds soon........

[Black.Ghost]

u could make a saloon based pickup and quite a few have been done, but obviously the estate/van/pickup are longer wheelbases than the saloon so cant be converted. I suppose u could do a saloon van aswell, like the fiesta vans u can get but u would have to have a rear opening door, although u could probably incorparate the rear doors from the van/estate into the saloon shell if u know what you are doing

IIRC, maybe a couple of years ago now in Mini Mag, the cover car was a white saloon that had two rear opening doors, and I think it was a lovely red interior. It was a gorgeous looking car and the two rear opening doors suited it so well. I believe a fair amount of money went into the build and it was worth it, in my opinion. Very good looking and pretty unique.

I would have to say though, although I can see the appeal of attempting to extend a saloon and build something else from an engineering point of view, I can't really see the point for any other reason. Surely it would be better to save a rotten standard pick-up or van before it gets so bad it can't be saved.

[M J W J]

Dig mini on the 16v forum built a shell from panels. His was for a re-shell but the same principle could be used to build a pick up or van. It worked out cheaper than buying a heritage shell and that was including the price of a spot welder.

It depends if you can get all the panels. If not you could always make a panel to fit but would not be easy.

[CLM]

It all fell down to production numbers for me, nearly 4 million saloons, half a million vans half a million wagons and 50 thousand pups. it was supply and demand, I would love a real pup, but to buy one would likely cost me what it is going to cost to convert this rotten wagon shell and then I would need to do the work to the pup... that I am doing to the wagon to convert it. floors quarters panels nose etc.

It would be better to save a rotten pickup, but it seems to me that it will cost twice the price or more to save a real one, even rotten pups in the states are going for several thousand, I got my wagon shell for $600, and it needs floors, quarter panels, nose... same things I would expect to replace on a rotten pickup.

Chris

[DAVEY_C]

i'm with chris... although i would prefer to save a rotten pickup they just aren't cas common as in the uk and even a rotten 1 is like gold dust (and costs as much) nobody sells them and if they do even needing work swings them into thousands. i have a rotten saloon without any identity that got me thinking, i picked it up for 50Euro few months back, it was going to be scrapped but i hadn't the heart to let that happen so i took it and spent many nights wundering what the hell to do with it now

she's a 91 cooper shell and needs alot of panels but the way i see it she's still being saved. i'm not looking to build an exact replica of a derivitive but something i'll enjoy using. i was thinking a van/estate because i was going to build an sr20det powered mini and fancied the extra wheel base but was only a thought... think i might go with either a pickup or hornet instead because of lack of resources with regards the others... it will probably end up a track day weapon but by scratch building you can do what you want with it which is the main apeal i think

chris, you have my interest mate. the conversion you are doing, are you much into it?